Candidate for Santos' old seat is convicted on Jan 6 charges after testifying he had no idea Congress met in the Capitol

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

Dec. 6, 2023, 9:16 PM EST


WASHINGTON — A New York man who is running for the congressional seat previously held by George Santos was convicted this week of charges relating to the Jan. 6 riot after he testified at his trial that he didn't know Congress convened inside the Capitol.

Philip Sean Grillo, of Queens, was found guilty Tuesday of the felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding, along with a series of misdemeanors like entering restricted grounds and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, the Justice Department said in a news release.

Grillo, 49, entered and exited the Capitol on Jan. 6 multiple times, at least once through a broken window, according to the Justice Department. While he was inside the Capitol, Grillo was interviewed on camera about why he was there. “I’m here to stop the steal,” he said, according to the Justice Department. “It’s our f---ing House!” During the riot, Grillo recorded videos of himself in the Capitol. “We f---ing did it, you understand? We stormed the Capitol,” Grillo said in one video, according to the Justice Department. “We shut it down! We did it!”

Grillo’s attorneys had argued that he “believed he was authorized to engage in the conduct set forth in the indictment.” He was arrested on Feb. 23, 2021. His lawyers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday's conviction. Grillo hasn’t yet been sentenced. Grillo in May filed as a candidate for New York’s 3rd Congressional District seat — the seat Santos, a Republican, held until his expulsion from the House last week following a scathing Ethics Committee report.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/candidate-george-santos-old-seat-convicted-jan-6-charges-testifying-no-rcna128442

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Full headline: Candidate for Santos' old seat is convicted on Jan. 6 charges after testifying he had 'no idea' Congress met in the Capitol

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. Orange Jesus was not given the legal power to "authorize" an insurrection.

Being in a cult is not a get out of jail free card.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Get out of jail free card, only if the cult wins. Even then only if cult leader can be bothered to pardon

Cult members always think they are loved by the leader.

Authoritarian Followers always think they will escape all authoritarian crackdowns and roundups and harsh measures.

[Oopsie Daisy]

10. Here's a photo... he seems nice. (It reminds me of "Negan" from TV's "The Walking Dead")

https://walkingdead.fandom.com/wiki/Negan_Smith

[Bayard]

14. Don't insult Jeffrey Dean Morgan!

[Oopsie Daisy]

16. He's a good actor. He plays Negan so well that he may be type-cast forever.

I hope it doesn't affect his career. I recall reading (decades ago) that Louise Fletcher's Academy Award winning performance of Nurse Ratched kept her from getting other roles because she was too closely associated with being Mildred Ratched, and that casting directors believed it might distract from the story if she were given the party.

[Bayard]

23. I've actually seen him in a few other things lately

I like him even more since reading he rescues animals, and brings them to his farm in upstate NY. I've seen clips of him in grungey clothes, actually, physically helping to load a frightened donkey on a trailer. He's really a nice guy.

Fletcher did get to play the kindly farmer wife in, "Firestarter," but I don't remember what else.

[padah513]

2. OMG The roaches are coming out of the woodwork. Santos showed them the way.

[Novara]

3. I feel like I'm living in perpetual satire

[MorbidButterflyTat]

17. Me too.

Apparently these nutjob traitors have discovered running on the KGOP ticket is an easy way to grift and go through life without consequences.

I think I'm all out of the capacity to be shocked, about any damn thing.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Republican cream rises to the top

[no_hypocrisy]

5. One would hope that the Third District has had enough antics and

would not elect Grillo, let alone nominate him.

[Prairie Gates]

6. This guy sounds like a Jerky Boys character

“it’s Phil Grillo, open yer ears, jackass. I’ll be down at the Capitol 8am sharp. I start tuhmorruh. That’s right. PHIL GRILLO!”

[tanyev]

8. If he didn't know Congress met in the Capitol, then what, pray tell, did he think he "shut down"?

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Makes sense. Replace a guy charged with felonies with a

convicted felon.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

18. It's a brave new world.

Or is it?

[RocRizzo55]

11. He is inelligible to run

Under the third clause of the 14th Amendment, which reads:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

[dembotoz]

19. sort of a test of that

betcha trump is watching

[LeftInTX]

22. The house has a rule against it already.

The House of Representative has an internal rule that any member who is convicted of an offense that could result in two or more years’ imprisonment cannot vote or participate in committee activities. However, the privileges of such a member can be restored if he or she is reelected to Congress. The Senate does not have a similar rule. Both the Democratic and Republican parties can censure their own members in the House and Senate, including removing them from committees, as they see fit.

[Kennah]

12. Dude is taking "hold ma beer" to a new level

[republianmushroom]

13. Well he will fit right in with the rest of the house republicans.

[Bayard]

15. Too stupid to be in Congress!

Oh, wait......

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

20. Doesn't that disqualify him?